Earl Grey Bella Luna

All this time, I thought this blend was a coconut and lavender EG. Turns out, there isn’t any lavender at all! Not sure why I had that in my head, but that’s definitely the reason I tend to avoid this one. I can do lavender on occasion and it’s sometimes nice in an Earl Grey blend, but I hardly ever really want to drink it. Now that I know this one doesn’t have lavender, maybe I can bring myself to finally finish the bag. I got lured in by the “only available once a month!” marketing strategy, and now I have 2 or 3 ounces of it. It’s good but not a repurchase. Not unless I change my mind between now and the bottom of the bag.

Wow. I agree with other tasters that the initial scent of bergamot is a punch in the face. However, the tea’s taste doesn’t concur with that punch. This is an incredibly smooth, soft brew. It’s the first tea I’ve ever had that reminds me of actual velvet. Adding cream actually diminished the coconut notes for me. Adding a dash of coconut milk, on the other hand, makes this downright heavenly. It’s a really good thing for my wallet that this is only available once a month!

I didn’t know how the coconut was going to go with the traditional taste of the earl grey. However, it added a little bit of a sweet flavor that added a balance to the bergamot and gave the tea a bit of a tropical feel to it.

The scent of the dry leaf punches you in the face. It smells VERY heavy of bergamot, almost off-putting, actually. I could also smell the lavender and the coconut. I brewed this tea for 4 minutes at 212F. After brewing, the bergamot smell was much more subdued, which made me happy. It tastes like an earl grey tea with a faint hint of bergamot. I think the lavender and cream really shines through here and I get just a hint of coconut at the end. I was hoping the addition of some sugar will bring out the coconut flavor some more but it didn’t. This tea is also astringent – it leaves my mouth feeling dry, but it isn’t unpleasant. Overall, this reminds me a lot of Zhi Tea’s Violet Femme, minus the coconut, and the Violet Femme is not as drying to the palate in my opinion. Overall, this is a lovely tea, especially with the addition of some sugar and a splash of cream.

The smell for me was very offputting. Like lemon pound cake which was not enticing for me. So I put off trying it for a little while. But once steeped it doesn’t taste how it smells which is good. I’m only getting a small hint of coconut it gets lost in the bergamot. But this tea is kind of good. I wouldn’t drink it daily but once in a while it’s yummy. I wish I just got a sample though instead of 3oz. I wish there was more coconut flavor and that it went a little easier on the bergamot. This tea reminds me of London fog lattes without the lavender.

Only available on full moons. The leaves smelled sweet that reminded me of an orange cream popsicle. I brewed it at 212F for five minutes. The black tea and bergamot taste is very strong with a subtle fruity, sweet after taste. Next time I would like to steep it for maybe three minutes to get more of the coconut creme flavors.

This is now known as “Werewolf Tea” in my house considering when it’s available. That said, I love both Earl Grey and coconut-flavored teas, so the idea of a coconut Earl reeled me in along with the clever marketing. Woooo, the limited-time tea tempts you, Orphie.

To be honest it’s not quite what I hoped it would be. It tastes a lot like Earl Grey Moonlight, without as much coconut flavor as I’d have liked. The only way I can tease out a bit more of the coconut is to stick closer to a 3-minute steep time rather than the 4-minute time I usually go for; any more than 3 minutes and the bergamot will overpower the other flavors. It’s still a tasty blend, but I doubt I’ll restock more frequently than every few full moons.

EDIT: Under no circumstances should you ice this. What is a perfectly tasty tea while hot tastes like bitter chemical death when cold. I don’t know if it’s Adagio’s flavorings or their finicky base, but I’ve had no luck icing any of their teas lately.

This tea can only be purchased from Adagio on a full moon! How interesting. I just happened to be placing an order during the last full moon, and thought “Wait, I’ve never seen this EG, it must be new!” A lucky coincidence!

Now, Adagio already offers something very similar to this, Earl Grey Moonlight. EG Moonlight is just a standard EG with a powerful vanilla flavor added. This seems like an expansion on the same idea. It’s a standard EG with vanilla, but also coconut and cream. I was expecting the bergamot to overpower the coconut, but oddly, it doesn’t. The coconut and cream flavors are in the foreground, followed by the lemony bergamot. I’m not sure what Adagio uses to make its tea “creamy”, but it certainly pulls it off.

This would make a fantastic dessert tea with milk, I think. But it’s also going to be nice to start the day with that kick of caffeine and the mild bite of black tea.